Advantage Pavin, momentum Montgomerie. But, with 18 precious points at stakeon Sunday, a late afternoon surge from Europe and a weather forecast that might have Noah rushing to the merchandise tent to buy new waterproofs, the only thing that can be assumed about the climax to the 2010 Ryder Cup is that it will be compelling and it will be close.

With 10 points decided over two days of play, the United States lead their hosts by six points to four, although any comfort there was as American heads hit the pillow will have been disturbed by an overnight leaderboard that showed six matches still out on the course and Europe ahead in all of them.

America's captain, Corey Pavin, said: "It's very close. The third session is going pretty nicely for Europe, and I don't think it's a bad thing it got dark." His European counterpart, Colin Montgomerie, fighting hard to contain his excitement, said: "We are in a strong position all of a sudden. Momentum is key in these matches and we haven't had it so far. Now we do."

They do, and so does this Ryder Cup as a spectacle after a day that served both as a timely reminder of the elemental appeal of matchplay, and as a kick up the backside to those who argued that by changing the order of play at Celtic Manor in an attempt to finish on schedule the organisers had somehow shorn this event of its power to enrapture. Poppycock, as Hemingway never wrote.

This is the Ryder Cup: the greatest show in golf, in all of sport perhaps. If there was any argument about that it was ended on the 17th green just before four o'clock, when Stewart Cink, the 2009 Open champion, danced a jig of unremitting joy after rolling in a 35-foot putt for birdie. "A poison dart,'' the American called his stunning effort.

The putt certainly felled Rory McIlroy, who had an opportunity from six feet for a matching birdie but missed and lost the hole to go one down – a pivotal moment. Twenty minutes later Cink and his partner, Matt Kuchar, secured the victory and the point against McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Steve Stricker, ably assisted by a clearly recovering hacker from Orlando, Florida, called Tiger Woods, hammered Miguel Angel Jiménez and Peter Hanson 4&3, while Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan held off the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, winning two up.

Earlier in the morning, Woods and Stricker had seen off Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher in their delayed fourball match – a sixth victory in six matches together in international team competition (they compiled a 4-0 record at last year's Presidents Cup).

Yet the tide was not all red, white and blue. Among the European successes were Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, who secured one and half points from two, and a solid performances from Luke Donald, who maintained his unbeaten record in foursomes when he and Ian Poulter took a point against the USA rookie pairing of Bubba Watson and Jeff Overton.

Westwood has been magnificent, a great leader for Europe. "He is my best player, my top ranked player and he's proved it," said Montgomerie of the man who will be at No2 when the next world rankings are released. "He has been unbelievable in the team room, the locker room, on the range and on the course." None of the Americans will fancy their chances if drawn against Westwood in today's singles.

Ross Fisher also won a point, but more importantly from a European perspective he won it alongside Padraig Harrington – a victory over Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson that was the Irishman's first at the Ryder Cup since 2004 and, more to the point, transformed his countenance from morbid to euphoric, the quality of his golf from dangerously sporadic to intermittently great.

They make an unlikely duo – the lanky Englishman and the Irishman with the Charlie Chaplin gait – but who cares when the alchemy is this good? They were together again as a fourball in the rearranged third session and were two up over Johnson and Jim Furyk after six holes at the close.

This was good news for Montgomerie and the mud-splattered hordes who came to Celtic Manor to urge on the home team – and occasionally cheer the visitors, although mostly when they miss a fairway or a putt – but there was even better news to be found on the leaderboard at the end of the day.

"We need to get to the singles with the match at eight points each,'' Montgomerie had insisted after the second session. His team may do better than that when play resumes and the matches are played to a conclusion. Nothing is over until it is over but, really, can anyone expect the steady pairing of Westwood and Donald to cede a four-hole advantage over Woods and Stricker in the remaining nine holes?

Likewise, McDowell and McIlroy, who re-emerged from the disappointment of their earlier defeat against Cink and Kuchar like men possessed. Good luck to Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan, three down after eight holes, because they will need it.

"The way that Cink and Kuchar finished their game against Rory and Graeme left us flat at lunchtime," Montgomerie said. "For Stewart to hole that putt on the 17th green was fantastic for them. The Americans were silencing the crowds, in the way we used to do to them in America. But we didn't have the passion – and by that I mean the players and the fans –and it was important that when we came out in the afternoon that we had that passion. I told them to get up early in their matches."

Clearly they followed their advice. Yet, as Montgomerie was quick to point out, it is one thing to be ahead in a match but quite another to actually win it. Strange things happen in golf, as the shifting sands of proceeding proved. And after two days in Wales, it is time to give some credit to Pavin and his men, who at the very least put to bed the notion the 2010 edition of the Ryder Cup would be a cakewalk for Europe. For all his mis-steps and mishaps, the American captain has proved a canny operator, particularly when it has come to his pairings.

"A strange one,'' Montgomerie jabbed when it was revealed that Watson and Overton would anchor the American pairings in the opening session of the tournament. But they proved an unexpected success, winning a point against the strong pairing of Donald and Harrington.

The Americans also proved they had the edge when it came to putting – more often than not the most decisive element in deciding this event. But even so, you have to reach the green before you can get the putter out of the bag and as the day progressed the ball-striking on show from the USA became ever more ragged.